Dongya Yang, Simon Fraser University

Research

Read how they describe their research on their Simon Fraser University profile.

Latest papers

Ancient DNA reveals phenological diversity of Coast Salish herring harvests over multiple centuries.
Scientific reports · 2022
Indigenous sex-selective salmon harvesting demonstrates pre-contact marine resource management in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada
Scientific Reports · 2021 · senior author
Functional genetic diversity in an exploited marine species and its relevance to fisheries management.
Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021

All 4 publications

Latest funding

The Utilization of Ancient Environmental DNA Techniques to Reconstruct Paleoenvironments: A Case Study Within The Sts'ailes Nation
SSHRC · 2026 · Co-investigator
$94,937
Unwinding ecologies of colonization through an animal lens
SSHRC · 2025 · Co-investigator
$283,063
Experimental Archaeology to Examine the Recovery of Human Remains DNA from Cemetery Soils
SSHRC · 2022 · Principal investigator
$34,485

All 17 grants and awards

4 publications.

01

Ancient DNA reveals phenological diversity of Coast Salish herring harvests over multiple centuries.

Petrou EL, Kopperl R, Lepofsky D, Rodrigues AT, Yang D, Moss ML, Speller CF, Hauser L

Scientific reports2022

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17656-4 PMID: 35933511

02

Indigenous sex-selective salmon harvesting demonstrates pre-contact marine resource management in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada

Scientific Reports202121 citationsSenior authorOpen Access

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00154-4 PMID: W3212588672

03

Functional genetic diversity in an exploited marine species and its relevance to fisheries management.

Petrou EL, Fuentes-Pardo AP, Rogers LA, Orobko M, Tarpey C, Jiménez-Hidalgo I, Moss ML, Yang D, Pitcher TJ, Sandell T, Lowry D, Ruzzante DE, Hauser L

Proceedings. Biological sciences2021

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2398 PMID: 33622133

04

Intraspecific DNA contamination distorts subtle population structure in a marine fish: Decontamination of herring samples before restriction-site associated sequencing and its effects on population genetic statistics.

Petrou EL, Drinan DP, Kopperl R, Lepofsky D, Yang D, Moss ML, Hauser L

Molecular ecology resources2019

DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12978 PMID: 30561168

The Utilization of Ancient Environmental DNA Techniques to Reconstruct Paleoenvironments: A Case Study Within The Sts'ailes Nation

Co-investigatorSSHRC2026Insight Development Grants

Principal investigators: Berna, Francesco

$94,937

Unwinding ecologies of colonization through an animal lens

Co-investigatorSSHRC2025Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Guiry, Eric J.

$283,063

Experimental Archaeology to Examine the Recovery of Human Remains DNA from Cemetery Soils

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Yang, Dongya

Keywords: DNA identification of human remains; DNA recovery from soils; experimentation; DNA degradation; DNA fingerprinting; forensic identification

$34,485

Experimental Archaeology to Examine the Recovery of Human Remains DNA from Cemetery Soils

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Yang, Dongya

Keywords: DNA identification of human remains; DNA recovery from soils; experimentation; DNA degradation; DNA fingerprinting; forensic identification

$36,613

Integrating Ancient DNA and Archaeology to Investigate the Resilience of Pre-Contact Coast Salish People to Salmon Fluctuations in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Yang, Dongya

Keywords: ancient DNA; Coastal Salish people; salmon fishery; First Nations; archaeology; resiliency; conservation; sustainability

$159,366

Integrating Ancient DNA and Archaeology to Investigate the Resilience of Pre-Contact Coast Salish People to Salmon Fluctuations in Burrard Inlet, British Columbia

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Yang, Dongya

Keywords: ancient DNA; Coastal Salish people; salmon fishery; First Nations; archaeology; resiliency; conservation; sustainability

$82,970

People and animals in the Peace River region

Co-investigatorSSHRC2019Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Driver, Jonathan C.

Keywords: Tse'K'wa; boreal forest archaeology; biomolecular archaeology; historical ecology; hunting

$236,125

Understanding the ecosystem role of Pacific herring in coupled social-ecological systems: advancing forage fish science

Co-investigatorNSERC2013Strategic Projects - Group

Principal investigators: Pitcher, Tony

$682,335

Archaeological investigations of past hunting landscapes on Banks Island, NWT

Co-investigatorSSHRC2012Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Hodgetts, Lisa M.

Keywords: Arctic archaeology; hunter-gatherers; landscape; zooarchaeology; geophysics; geochemistry; ancient DNA

$278,200

International partnership development in Chinese bioarchaeology

Principal investigatorSSHRC2012

Principal investigators: Yang, Dongya

Keywords: human skeleton bioarchaeology; ancient DNA; palaeopathology; data base; osteology; Chinese archaeology

$199,180

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Department of Archaeology
Department of Anthropology
Genome Sciences Centre

Co-authors at Simon Fraser University, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Dana Lepofsky

Department of Archaeology

2 shared papers, latest 2022

Camilla Speller

Department of Anthropology

1 shared papers, latest 2021

Ryan Morin

Genome Sciences Centre

1 shared papers, latest 2021

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their SSHRC grant from 2022

Subject: Prospective PhD student Dear Professor Yang, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Ancient DNA reveals phenological diversity of Coast Salish herring harvests over multiple centuries." (2022), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your SSHRC-funded project "Experimental Archaeology to Examine the Recovery of Human Remains DNA from Cemetery Soils" (2022), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]